The Sacrifice
by shadowmaid25
Summary: Tally thought everything was finally alright. But when she wakes up in a blank room seeing Zane alive again, she doesn't know what to think. When he vanishes right in front of her a mysterious figure appears, claiming he can bring Zane back; for a price.


"_Tally…_" a very familiar voice called to her and she opened her eyes. The light blinded her as she sat up; a pair of defiant eyes stared back at her.  
"Zane?" Tally shouted, her heart soaring. 'Zane is dead,' her brain tried to argue but to no avail, it didn't justify the man standing before her. He smiled at her, his steely gaze softening a bit as he grinned at her.

Tears started streaming down her face as she reached towards him, her fingers inches away from his. He reached, straining his fingers to close the distance between them, but they were still centimeters apart.

"Zane…" she cried, desperately trying to move her legs or her fingers a bit more. They felt like stone weights, not budging. Suddenly, Zane stopped reaching.

"_Tally…_" he whispered, his tips of his fingers starting to vanish.

"NO! ZANE DON'T-"tally shouted but there was nothing he could do. Zane disappeared in a matter of seconds. "ZANE! ZANE-"

"You can shout all you want; he's not coming back," a dangerously icy voice behind her chided. Tally turned swiftly behind to see a figure wrapped in a white cloak with a matching ivory mask. The figure walked gracefully to her, every step impossibly icy.

"You can save him Tally," the voice surprisingly calm and soothing, "all you have to do is...do me a small favor and I can grant you…his safe return." Tally's suspicion finally clicked in.

"…Where am I? And who are you?" the masked figure continued to stare at her, "and what, do you want from me?"

"All I want is to help you Tally-"

"Then why do you need a favor from me?" Tally spat viciously. There was something about this blank room that made her terrified. The masked figure she could feel in her bones...was a special. Like herself.

"I want to help you, but I also need something in return to…help me bring back Zane."

"And how will you go about that?" Tally asked. She had learned from her mistakes in the past.

"…With the nanotechnology I have created, it will be a snap bringing Zane back to…his old self." the voice immediately turned cold and emotionless like a machine as they replied, making her shiver. Tally thought to herself for a minute; a one on one match against another special…also, she had no idea if there were any machines or surveillance systems or weapons already pointed at her head, ready to aim. She sighed, knowing she had no choice.  
"What do I have to do?"

-X-

Tally stretched out her arms and legs. They were stiff from sitting in that uncomfortable bed in the blank room for too long. 'What am I going to do?" Tally thought as she ran towards the hideout she and David had hidden in the caves a couple of miles away from the New Smoke. The special had made it crystal clear to her that there were only two options: turn in Maddy and she and David would be set free, and Zane would join her once more or fail to turn Maddy in and David, Zane, and herself would perish. The special also mentioned that their organization was trying to deal with the New Smoke without any bloodshed, but if tally didn't fulfill her mission; there would be war. Tally sighed as she tried to push away the icy voice of the special as she ran full speed into the cave to warn David.

"David?" I have news to-"Tally started but as she looked around the damp cave, David was nowhere to be seen. It hit her; they had taken David away. His safe return would be only when Tally succeeded her mission by bringing Maddy in. 'Great' she thought, turning around swiftly before heading out of the cave.

She could smell David's scent still lingering in the air as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She abruptly stopped realizing the truth. If they had another special, how many others they could have? If she chased after David, nothing would be resolved. Both of them would be killed immediately. Tally turned her heels toward the New Smoke.

-X-

"Tally? Is that you?" Tally turned around to see Shay running towards her. In a couple of seconds she was in Shay's arms. "I got your message…the one about you and David. But you could have at least said goodbye." Shay said as they separated. Tally sighed; she didn't have enough time to explain everything.

"Shay-"she began but Shay cut her off.

"Wait…you're not here because we did something wrong did we? Because in your letter-"

"No, that's not it. But this is urgent. I need to meet Maddy. Can you take me to her?" Shay looked into Tally's eyes concerned.

"Yeah…follow me." Shay replied, starting off into a jog. Tally followed her, extremely nervous. How would Maddy react to the news? She had hated Tally after the Smoke was destroyed and Az was killed; blaming her for Az's death and the destruction of the smoke. 'Would she listen to reason?' Tally wondered nervously. 'Only one way to find out' she thought, speeding up so that she was right next to Shay.


End file.
